According To Choice Theory, Why Do Individuals Commit Digital Crime?

1454 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Computer and traditional crimes

1) According to choice theory, why do individuals commit digital crime?

Individuals commits a crime since they make a rational choice to do so by weighing the risks and benefits of committing the act. If the risks that is, the punishment outweigh the benefits, then the person will commit the act (Fritsch et al, 2015). Thus, people generally act in their self-interest and make decisions to commit crime after weighing the potential risks which include getting caught and punished against the rewards.

According to positive school, the belief was that, crime produced traits and factors could be isolated, and treatment could be administered to eliminate or control the trait. Though, it was being at the time that these factors and traits had failed to be identified and isolated after almost a century years of effort. The rational criminal chooses to commit …show more content…

For instance, rational actors whereby offenders weigh the potential risks and benefits of committing an offense and the make a conscious decision on whether to commit a crime. In digital crime, the criminals chose to commit a computer crime. Also, offenders must be aware of the penalty for a particular crimes. In digital crime, offenders are argued not to know the potential penalties they face for particular crimes. In addition, the offenders must view the risks as unpleasant, thus, if a computer criminal do not think confinement and incarceration is hostile, then the criminal will not deter.
3) Which psychological theories can be applied to digital crime?
In personality disorders, psychologists argue that specific personality characteristics of an individual may influence crime. That is, depending on people’s emotional and behavioral qualities of an

Show More
Related

  • Rational Choice Theory White Collar Crime

    1539 Words  | 4 Pages

    The nature and damage of white-collar crime can result in a variety of punishments for the offender. Some sanctions being time in prison, some being fines, and others being a combination of both. For example, Chalana McFarland who was a real estate attorney and was accused of fraud, money laundering and other crimes costing investors $20 million. She was charged with $12 million in restitution and thirty years in prison (Haury, 2012). Another example would be Bernie Madoff, who owned Madoff Securities, was involved in a Ponzi scheme. It is believed that investors lost $50 billion dollars. Curently Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence in a prison in Butner, N.C (Haury, 2012). As these white-collar crime cases show, the costs of these crimes can be quite serve and earn life sentences as well as very hefty fines. Moreover, white-collar crimes have huge economic effects on victims, often causing life altering losses. Under consideration white-collar crimes are quite high-cost actions that hold large possible punishments and large ethical issues. In a research experiment done by Christian Seipel and Stefanie Eifler, a theory branching from rational choice theory was tested in relation to crime. The theory they explored was referred to as high- and low- cost theory. This theory discusses the factors that influence low cost crime and high cost crime. Low cost being defined as crimes that have low

    Read More

  • Burglary and the Rational Choice Theory

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    Crime causation is looking at why people commit crimes. There are many theories that have been developed to explain this. The theories can be grouped into eight general categories of which one is the Classical theory (Schmallegar, 2011, p. 79). A subset of this theory, rational choice theory, will be specifically looked at to explain the crime of burglary. Just as no one causation theory explains all crimes committed, the rational choice theory itself does not completely explain why all burglars commit their crimes. Therefore, the pros and cons of the rational choice theory will be discussed in relation to the crime topic of burglary.

    Read More

  • Collectivist And Individualist Views On The Cause Of Crime

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    A persons’ personality is made up of different characteristics such as, being humorous, compassionate, self-obsessive, outgoing, shy, aggressive etc… These are things that influence our behaviour in predicable ways. An increase of certain personality traits like, being aggressive, impulsive, easily influenced, no fear/understanding of consequences, make people more disposed to crime. People with personality disorders are even more disposed to crime. Personality disorders are mental health illnesses that affect how people cope with their feelings and how they communicate with other people. They usually develop in late adolescence and early childhood.

    Read More

  • Criminal Behavior And Rational Choice Theory

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    Based on the RCT criminals are thought to make a conscious rational decision before committing crime, they are thought to weight the benefits and costs of committing or not committing the crime. By this method criminals often decide that robbing a bank and possibly going to jail is a better alternative to staying at home and doing nothing when they have just ten days to pay their rent or move and live on the streets. The RCT assumes that all people are capable of making good conscious choices, which it can be strongly argued that many people lack the mental capacity to make a rational decision. It was the rising crime rates of the 70's and 80's that turned people away from other theories such as the classical and neo-classical and onto the RCT which was founded in the late 70's to the early 80's. (Hayward, 2007, p. 234) Under the RCT are the RAT and SCT which will both be explained better later on.

    Read More

  • Ted Bundy: The Mind of a Killer

    2059 Words  | 5 Pages

    Description of offender’s psychological history and functioning at the time of the offence is based on statistical approach which involves the analysis of behavioural and other relevant information found at the scene of crime in order to infer ...

    Read More

  • Childhood Psychopathy

    2323 Words  | 5 Pages

    Walters G (2012). Psychopathy and Crime: Testing the Incremental Validity of PCL-R-Measured Psychopathy as a Predictor of General and Violent Recidivism. Law and Human Behavior.36(5), 404-412.

    Read More

  • Which Trait Theory Most Explains Criminal Behavior

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    Trait theory views criminality as a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits. It is based on a mix between biological factors and environmental factors. Certain traits alone cannot determine criminality. We are born with certain traits and these traits along with certain environmental factors can cause criminality (Siegel, 2013). According to (Siegel, 2013), the study of sociobiology sparked interest in biological or genetic makeup as an explanation for crime and delinquency. The thought is that biological or genetic makeup controls human behavior, and if this is true, then it should also be responsible for determining whether a person chooses crime or conventional behavior. This theory is referred to as trait theory (Siegel, 2013). According to Siegel (2013), due to the fact that offenders are different, one cannot pinpoint causality to crime to just a single biological or psychological attribute. Trait theorist looks at personal traits like intelligence, personality, and chemical and genetic makeup; and environmental factors, such as family life, educational attainment, economic factors, and neighborhood conditions (Siegel, 2013). There are the Biosocial Trait theories an...

    Read More

  • The Rational Choice and Biological Trait Theories

    1763 Words  | 4 Pages

    Criminals use the rational choice theory in society when they are trying to avoid any kind of pain and are in a mindset of looking for pleasure. Criminals find the easiest way to have fun and find a ...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Social Control Theory

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is noticed that rational choice theory is a neo-classical economic plan that gives a hypothetical clarification for how people make choices when confronted with decisions. Moreover, this theory contends that an individual decides how an individual will act by adjusting the expenses and advantages of their choices. Due to its elegant clarification, the RCT has been broadly connected to the investigation of individual, social, and monetary practices in numerous settings. Knapp and Ferrante (2012) stated that adopted a rational choice viewpoint in his financial way to deal with wrongdoing and contended that a criminal augments their expected benefit from an illegal movement in excess of the anticipated expense of discipline.

    Read More

  • Social Crime And Social Learning Theory Vs. Trait Theory

    1308 Words  | 3 Pages

    The major premise of this is that the development of the unconscious personality early in childhood influences behavior for the rest of a person’s life. Criminals have weak egos and damaged personalities. The main focus of this is mental illness. In regards to social learning theory, one’s criminal behavior is learned through human interactions. Learning theories help explain the role that peers, family, and education play in shaping criminal and conventional behaviors. If crime were a matter of personal traits alone, these elements of socialization would not play such an important a part in determining human behaviors. Mental illness is part of the major crime causation for trait theory. According to some estimates, as much as 50% of the U.S. prison population suffers from some form of mental

    Read More

  • The Development of a Criminal Mind

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today’s society, one will find that there are many different factors that go into the development of a criminal mind, and it is impossible to single out one particular cause of criminal behavior. Criminal behavior often stems from both biological and environmental factors. In many cases criminals share similar physical traits which the general population do not usually have. For example criminals have smaller brains than properly adjusted individuals. However biological reasons cannot solely be the cause of criminal behavior. Therefore, one must look to other sources as to how a criminal mind is developed. Social and environmental factors also are at fault for developing a person to the point at which they are lead to committing a criminal act. Often, someone who has committed a violent crime shows evidence of a poorly developed childhood, or the unsuitable current conditions in which the subject lives. In addition if one studies victimology which is the role that the victim plays in the crime, it is apparent that there are many different causes for criminal behavior. Through the examination of biological factors, in addition to the social and environmental factors which make up a criminal mind, one can conclude that a criminal often is born with traits common to those of criminals, it is the environment that exist around them that brings out the criminal within them to commit indecent acts of crime.

    Read More

  • Sociological Theories Of Crime

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are different types of social phenomenon in our society, and one existing phenomenon that capture our attention like no other is crime. What is crime? Crime is an abnormal behavior that violates norms, and especially cultural standards that we as human are suppose to respect and have certain behavior towards. Standards such as : the changing of social, political, psychological, and economic conditions that have an effect on the justification of crime and the structural reaction of the criminal justice system created by Federal and State officials. Rational and deterrence theories are two important theories in this perspective. Research through out history provided us with different theories to help explain why people commit deviance acts.

    Read More

  • Are Criminals Born or Made?

    2147 Words  | 5 Pages

    Understanding Psychology and Crime: Perspectives on Theory and Action, New York. PENNINGTON, D. (2002), Introducing Psychology: Approaches, Topics and Methods, London, Hodder Arnold. TANNENBAUN, B, (2007),Profs link criminal behaviour to genetics [online], Available at: http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2007/11/profs_link_criminal_behavior_to_genetics [accessed 16th October 2011].

    Read More

  • The Causes of Criminal Behavior

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    Criminality constitutes strategic mannerisms characterized by apathy to misery inflicted on others, egocentricity and depressed self-control. Habitual criminal behaviour seeks to satisfy the offender’s desires for material prestige, power or pleasurable feelings regardless to damage inflicted to victim or society. Such behaviors extend mistrust, fuel prejudice, and largely corrupt social cohesion. Biological, psychological and environmental attributes are thought to heavily influence antisocial and criminal behaviour. Numerous studies have proven that active emulation, genetic predispositions and psychosocial labeling are all complementary to development and expressions of criminal behaviour. There has historically been a myriad of theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour through different perspectives, all which constitute intricate paradigms that play a role in expressio...

    Read More

  • Reflection Paper On Criminology

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    I now know that criminology prefer to highlight the correlations between crimes’ social climates and criminals’ psychological states of mind. While some argues that criminal behavior is a result of individuals’ association with criminal peers, other claims that crime is a reflection of an individual’s genetic disadvantages. I have come to learn that there are no universally agreed formulas on decoding crimes and criminal behaviors. What we have, however, is a manual full of academic opinions and subjective views that have emerged alongside of the development of criminology. At the same time, the volume of conflicting perspectives that I have stumble upon in studying criminology reminded me again that the success of our current assessment models has yet to be determined. Thus, the study of criminology is an appropriate practice that will further prepare me to conduct meaningful research on legal studies and to provide accurate and in-depth findings in the near

    Read More

More about According To Choice Theory, Why Do Individuals Commit Digital Crime?

Open Document